Flapper
Dress
Many Years Ago Women Paid a Pretty Penny
for Their Short Flapper Dresses
Beginning in the 1920's, a new style
called “Flapper” caught the interest of teenage
and college age women. Considered provocative, the Flapper
girl look completely changed the old standards of dress for
women which reigned for over 100 years in America.
No Time for Corsets
Embracing the wearing of makeup but
rejecting corsets and the traditional restrictive and
voluminous dresses, the Flappers created an innovative and
controversial style with flapper dresses.
Why the Flapper Style Dress?
The flapper style developed for two
reasons. During and after World War I, women began to favor
conservative styles that de-emphasized the female form. At
the same time, Jazz became popular with young people. Girls
and boys both loved to dance and were hindered by corsets
and long skirts.
The Flapper Dress
Revolution
In the early 1920's, young people
started to revolt against the old strict social and moral
habits.
Teenage girls refused to wear corsets
and were increasingly drawn to the unruly jazz music. By
their mid to late teens, girls began making their own
dresses and undergarments. The first thing eliminated in the
new style of dress was the corset. Patterns for the Flapper
dress became available, ushering in home sewing of the new
and exciting fashion.
The First Flapper
Dresses
With flowing fabric, the Flapper dress
allowed the wearer to spend hours in the jazz clubs, dancing
the night away. Early versions of the Flapper dress had a
mid-calf hemline, with layers of fabric sewn in such a way
to reveal alternating glimpses of knees as the wearer
walked. Both the dress length and loose waistlines were
considered provocative.
Flapper Dresses were Played in "B"
Flat
The loose waistline, dropped to the
hips, emphasized the boyish figure popular at the time.
Special undergarment designs developed, with straight lines
to make girls look more flat-chested. Bras were made to
flatten the chest and prevent “jiggling” while
dancing.
For an even flatter line, simple tummy
flatteners were used. The Flapper dress had taken it's hold
on the youth but unnerved the older people. The term
“Flapper dress” doesn't just mean the dress
itself, but what accompanied the style.
Accessories for the 1920s Style
Flapper Dress
Other flapper dress accessories
included rayon stockings rolled down to the knee, in protest
to the black wool ones popular until then.
Makeup, considered scandalous in the
past, was all the rage. Previously only for actresses and
prostitutes, red lipstick and thick black eyeliner became
popular. Girls drank hard liquor, in public, during the
Prohibition years.
Oh, What the Flapper Girls
Did!!
Even the taboos of tobacco were
broken. Flapper girls smoked cigarettes through fashionable
long holders. The final assault on the dress standards of
the time was the short, bobbed hair cut, also known as the
Flapper cut.
1930: The End of the Flapper Dress
Dynasty
During the 1930's, the free spirit and
insubordination of the flapper dress couldn't stand up to
the Great Depression. People couldn't afford to go to jazz
clubs often, and materials to make the dresses had become
expensive. Leaving its legacy in films of the time, the
Flapper dress is the icon of the Roaring Twenties.
About the only time you see girls
dressed up in flapper dresses these days are at Halloween
costume parties or masquerade balls. Goes to show that
nostalgic clothing never really goes out of style ... Got
your flapper dress ready?
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